Mauritius

ARTICLES ABOUT MAURITIUS BY DATE - PAGE 5

PORT LOUIS: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi will start its overseas campus in Mauritius from November. IIT-Delhi is setting-up an International Institute of Technology Research Academy (IITRA) in the island nation. The new institute is being established in collaboration with Mauritius Research Council . "IITRA will start operation from November this year. It will provide full-time and part-time PhD degrees in disciplines like electrical, electronics and computer science," IIT-D Professor S M Ishtiaque told PTI. "The main objective of this institute is to set up IIT like technology education institute in Mauritius and encourage research culture in the island nation" he said.

PORT LOUIS: Dispelling 'misperceptions' that Mauritius is a tax haven, its financial sector regulator has said the island nation is in discussions with India to address concerns and make changes to the bilateral tax treaty. Emphasising that the country provides stability and predictability for investors, Mauritius's Financial Services Commission (FSC) sought to allay concerns that the jurisdiction is being used by Indian entities for round-tripping of funds. "We will defend our stand point that Mauritius is not a tax haven in spite of certain misperceptions," FSC Chief Executive Clairette Ah-Hen told PTI. Amid concerns of round-tripping of funds through Mauritius, both countries are discussing possible changes to their tax treaty towards addressing India's concerns.

NEW DELHI: When it comes to favouritism shown by government officials to influential corporates , India's ranking has improved sharply to 49th place on a global list, but remains below that of China and many major economies. India's ranking has also improved significantly in terms of public trust in politicians, as also with regard to diversion of public funds and for the 'irregular payments and bribery' at government institutions, as per an annual study by the World Economic Forum (WEF)

ocal street bazaars offer the true flavour of a city and I make sure to wander about with child-like curiosity to see what it extends at its nooks and gullies. Picking unique memorabilia, gifts for family and friends at affordable prices, street markets have always attracted me. What brings further joy to this writer is the energy levels at the flea market. Interacting with local artisans, many of who are aboriginal settlers or natives of the country. Checking out traditional art and locally produced organic offerings such as honey, soaps, sea salts, hand-sewn shawls and even leather boots.

CHANDIGARH: Mauritius Tourism Development Authority (MTPA) today said it is eyeing 60,000 Indian tourists visiting the country in 2014, about 5 per cent higher than number of tourists visited in previous year. "We are anticipating about 60,000 tourists from India to visit Mauritius in 2014 as against 58,000 tourists visited last year," MTPA, Deputy Director, Vijaye Haulder told reporters here today. Out of total tourists' traffic from India, 40 per cent constitutes visitors from northern parts of India while rest of them is from Western and Southern parts, he said.

NEW DELHI/PORT LOUIS: As a revision of the bilateral tax treaty hangs in balance, India's share of investments made by global companies through Mauritius has slipped to a historic low of less than 10 per cent. On the other hand, global investments routed through Mauritius to Africa, Europe, Americas and some Asian countries have gone up, as per the latest official data compiled by the island nation's financial sector regulator FSC. Negotiations to amend the Indo-Mauritius tax treaty have been hanging fire for a long time amid India's apprehensions that it is being misused to route unaccounted money and evade taxes.

DUBAI: Air Seychelles is looking forward to increase connectivity with key Asian markets including Delhi and Chennai considered important for Seychelles' tourism. "We look forward to increasing connectivity to key markets important for Seychelles tourism - in Asia such as Beijing, Chennai, Delhi, Riyadh, and Tokyo , as well as in traditional and emerging European markets including Rome, Moscow and Paris," said Manoj Papa, CEO Air Seychelles. Air Seychelles has announced significant enhancements to its international flight schedule as it takes delivery of another Airbus.

KOLKATA: Astonfield Renewables , a renewable energy company floated by Sourabh Sen with headquarters in New York and Mumbai, has won an order for two solar power projects with 4 mw capacity in Mauritius under the government's 10 mw solar photovoltaic (PV) programme. The firm's bid emerged among the top three of the 56 submitted by leading solar PV developers across the globe, the company said in a statement. "Astonfield is one of only three companies to have been awarded this tender capturing 40% of the allocated projects," said the company, which has operations spread across India, eastern Africa and the Middle East . "One of the first multinational solar PV developers to be awarded utility-scale solar PV power projects in Africa, Astonfield, will leverage its presence in India and its global development expertise to deploy the most efficient and technologically advanced solar PV projects in Mauritius," the statement said.

BANGALORE, MUMBAI: Agroup of NRI investors have filed a case in the Supreme Court of Mauritius against ICICI Venture Funds Management Company accusing the PE firm of misleading them while raising a real estate fund that eventually underperformed while they had been promised a certain return. ICICI Bank and the Western India Trustee and Executor Co have also been also been named as respondents. ICICI Ventures, India's largest PE fund, says the allegations are baseless and that no promises guaranteeing a rate of return were ever made.

NEW DELHI/PARIS: In a major development in the fight against black money, multilateral grouping OECD today unveiled a 'single global standard' for automatic exchange of financial account information by various countries including India and Switzerland. The new framework, to be presented before a meeting of G-20 finance ministers in September, would mark a significant forward movement from the current practice of information exchange mostly on the basis of requests and only in the cases of suspected tax evasion or other financial crimes . The new global standard, which would be common for all countries, would facilitate a "systematic and periodic transmission of bulk taxpayer information by the source country of income to the country of residence of the taxpayer concerning various categories of income or asset information".